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NEWS ABOUT: Patrick Leahy

Bush Can't Protect Rove, Senator Says

Executive privilege doesn't hold; ex-aides ordered to testify

(Newser) - President Bush’s attempts to protect Karl Rove from testifying about the firings of US attorneys were shot down today by the Senate Judiciary Committee, meaning Rove will likely face contempt charges unless he complies with congressional subpoenas, the Associated Press reports. Bush had cited executive privilege, which protects advisers,... More »

Congress Torn on Telecom Immunity

Senate panel sidesteps; House passes bill without it

(Newser) - Congress is conflicted over proposed immunity laws that would retroactively protect telecoms from suits alleging they illegally handed the government information on calls. The Senate Intelligence Committee endorsed immunity 13-2 last month, but the Judiciary Committee left the immunity section out of the document it approved yesterday. The House passed... More »

Pirate Act to Take Senate Floor, Again

Would enable Justice Dept. to prosecute illegal downloaders

(Newser) - Legislation that would enable the Justice Department to prosecute those who partake in peer-to-peer copyright infringement is coming before Congress—for the fourth time—now sponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy and John Conryn. But while it's popular among lawmakers and corporate copyright holders alike, the Pirate Act hasn't seen too... More »

2 Key Dems Support Mukasey

Schumer, Feinstein will vote to confirm AG nominee

(Newser) - Despite controversy over Michael Mukasey's cagey responses to questions about waterboarding and torture, Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein will vote to confirm the AG nominee, the Democratic senators said this afternoon. Their votes, along with Republican committee members', are expected to tip the scales in Mukasey's favor and send his... More »

Mukasey Calls Waterboarding 'Repugnant,' Dodges Legality

AG nominee's 'massive hedge' worries critics

(Newser) - Attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey frustrated senators on both sides of the aisle by again refusing to specify whether he considers waterboarding a form of torture, calling it only "repugnant," CNN reports. "Hypotheticals are different from real life," Mukasey wrote to confirmation committee members yesterday, adding... More »

Mukasey Silent on Torture, Vocal on Spying

AG nominee's testimony a "massive hedge," says Democratic senator

(Newser) - Michael Mukasey remained mum today on whether interrogation methods such as waterboarding constitute torture. But the president’s nominee for attorney general spoke out in favor of the White House’s eavesdropping program, the NY Times reports, frustrating and confusing Democrats on the second day of his confirmation hearings. Mukasey... More »

Senate Brokers Truce With Bush on Domestic Spying

Includes immunity for phone companies

(Newser) - Senate Democrats and Republicans have brokered a deal on legislation regarding the White House domestic spying and wiretapping program—including a highly controversial grant of immunity to telecommunication companies that co-operated with warrantless wiretaps. The deal marks a victory for the White House because Democrats had to kill a House... More »

Dems to Grill AG Nominee on Bush's Meddling

Influence on Justice looms as top Mukasey confirmation issue

(Newser) - Michael Mukasey's confirmation hearings kick off tomorrow, and the focus of senators' questions for the AG nominee is already clear, the Christian Science Monitor reports: Democrats want assurances he’ll be more independent than Alberto Gonzales. Pat Leahy, for one, is looking for agreement that “federal law enforcement should... More »

Habeas Corpus Bill Withers in Senate

Combatants' rights measure lacks enough support to force a vote

(Newser) - A bill to allow terrorism suspects to challenge indefinite detention faltered in Washington today as only 56 Senate votes could be mustered to cut off debate on the habeas corpus measure. Sixty are needed for bills to move forward for a vote in the upper chamber; supporters said they might... More »

Mukasey Courts the Hill

Attorney general nominee meets with lawmakers to prep for hearings

(Newser) - Mukasey mingled today with the Dems who will make or break his chance at becoming the next attorney general. If they're worried about him taking on the job, none showed it, Bloomberg reports. Even Senator Leahy, who wants the White House to fork over documents on its surveillance program before... More »

Cheney Admits He Has Secret Wiretap Documents

But he'll resist Senate subpoena to see them

(Newser) - Vice President Dick Cheney will resist efforts by Congress to force him to produce dozens of documents relating to a warrantless wiretapping program conducted by the National Security Agency, the Washington Post reports. Cheney's counsel acknowledged for the first time yesterday that the vice president's office has documents relating to... More »

Leahy to Act in Batman Flick

He won't be in tights

(Newser) - Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, a long-time Batman aficionado, will play a role in the upcoming Batman movie, "The Dark Knight." And while President Bush and some members of the GOP may think he has the title role, he plays only a small part as a "distinguished gentleman.... More »

Bush Aide Stonewalls Senators

Rove snubs Judiciary Committee; 29-year-old staffer pleads for sympathy

(Newser) - Karl Rove didn't show up, but the White House sent a 29-year-old aide to field Senate Judiciary Committee questions about the US attorney firings today. Scott Jennings, the first administration figure to testify while still in office, followed the path laid out by ex-boss Sara Taylor in refusing to answer... More »

Senate Sends Rove Subpoena

Adviser called over role in attorney firings as Dems urge perjury charges for AG

(Newser) - The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed presidential strategist Karl Rove today, over his role in the 2006 US attorney firings. Chairman Patrick Leahy said he’d “exhausted every avenue seeking the voluntary cooperation" of Bush's Brain, and was left no option but to force him to appear. More »

Intel Memo Contradicts Gonzales

Senator threatens perjury probe over conflicting accounts

(Newser) - Alberto Gonzales' Senate testimony this week is at odds with a year-old intelligence document, and the discrepancy may earn the AG in a congressional perjury investigation. At issue is a 2004 White House briefing, which Gonzales has repeatedly testified did not concern the warrantless wiretapping program; a memo from the... More »

Ex-Aide Stays Tight Lipped on Attorneys

Sara Taylor respects former boss's executive privilege claim

(Newser) - Former White House political adviser Sara Taylor never discussed the ouster of nine US attorneys with President Bush, she told the Senate Judiciary Committee today. The subpoenaed Taylor said little else about the Justice Department scandal, citing executive privilege, but waffled occasionally between discretion and disclosure—for instance apologizing for... More »

Bush Directs Aides to Defy Subpoenas

Cites executive privilege in bid to stop Miers, Taylor testimony

(Newser) - In an aggressive use of executive privilege, President Bush instructed two of his former aides yesterday to disregard congressional subpoenas demanding they testify about the attorney firings scandal. In a letter to Congress, Bush's counsel rebuffed Democratic senators for encroaching on internal White House affairs, bringing the two branches closer... More »

Leahy Ready to Take White House to Court

Senator stands behind subpoenas in US attorney probe

(Newser) - Patrick Leahy has a message for White House officials who object to subpoenas issued in the US attorney firing investigation: See you in court. The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman took the dispute over executive privilege to the airwaves today, saying, "If they don't cooperate, yes, I'll go that far"... More »

White House Stonewalls on Subpoenas

Bush invokes executive privilege in Senate probe of US attorney firings

(Newser) - The White House shot down attempts to subpoena internal documents concerning the US attorney firings today by invoking executive privilege. Though not a surprise, the refusal moved the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to accuse the administration of "Nixonian stonewalling." If the committee doesn't back down, the... More »

Domestic Spying Probe Reaches West Wing

Frustrated Senate committee doles out subpoenas

(Newser) - Patrick Leahy came out swinging against the Bush administration's "sweeping assertions of secrecy and privilege" today, issuing subpoenas to the White House, Dick Cheney's office, the Justice Department, and the NSC. The documents demanded by the Senate Judiciary Committee relate to the warrantless wiretapping of terrorism suspects and the... More »

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